Audi ups its half-year sales by 5.2%

A teaser image of the new Hyundai i30

Infiniti Q60 during inspection in Tochigi, Japan.

Audi A4: Proved best-seller in 2016.

• AUDI has started the second half of the year with sales growth: In July, the company sold 149,400 units, up 2.3 percent year-on-year.
The carmaker has delivered around 1,102,650 cars to customers from its entire portfolio, an increase of 5.2 percent for the first half of the year.
The brand increased sales in all three core regions — in North America by 5.9 percent, in Asia-Pacific by 4.4 percent and in Europe by 1.5 percent.
The new Audi A4 was the bestselling model worldwide with around 30,450 units and growth of 14.9 percent.
“At present we are facing numerous economic and political challenges in key markets. Despite these increasingly difficult overall conditions, the global demand for Audi models has remained stable,” says Dietmar Voggenreiter, member of the board of management for sales and marketing at AUDI AG.
“With our three strong regional pillars — our business in Europe, North America and Asia-Pacific — we are well placed to offset market fluctuations globally.”

• Hyundai has unveiled its first hints about the New Generation i30, which will celebrate its world premiere on September 7 before making its debut at Paris Motor Show next month.
Peter Schreyer, president and chief design officer of Hyundai Motor Group, said: “It’s a car for everybody — for the design of the New Generation Hyundai i30, we didn’t just look at one customer, we focused on a wide range of different people. The design is an evolution of Hyundai Motor’s design language with natural flowing lines, refined surfaces and a sculpted body to create a timeless appearance. With the New Generation i30, we are introducing our further developed grille: the Cascading grille.”
Designed, developed, and tested in Europe, the New Generation i30 is Hyundai Motor’s car in the heart of the Hyundai range representing the core of the brand.

• Production of the all-new Infiniti Q60 sports coupe has started at the company’s manufacturing facility in Tochigi, Japan.
Designed and engineered to perform, the Q60 offers a compelling combination of daring design, exhilarating performance and dynamics.
The Tochigi plant has been producing Infiniti vehicles since the brand was launched in 1989.
The launch of the new Infiniti Q60 heralds the start of a new chapter in the plant’s history.
To meet the requirements of the new model, a series of upgrades have been made to the production line, and innovative manufacturing processes have been introduced.

• It is widely known that your choice of car says a lot about the kind of person you are.
In fact, it is more than just the car itself: even the color of the car is an indication of what you want the car to say about you or make you feel.
From the pure yet practical white and classic yet functional silver to the stately black, we look at the top color choices made by GMC customers over the past two years.
In response to strong customer demand, 2016 GMC vehicles — designed to embody tailored toughness and passionate craftsmanship — come in a total of 33 color variations perfectly suited to the preferences of car owners in the region. “The choice of color during the buying process can be a tough one,” said Mohsen Kassem, regional marketing and sales manager, GMC Middle East.
“Most might attribute the final decision to taste but, in reality, there’s a lot more to why GMC’s color palette is so varied and diverse. GMC’s longstanding presence in this market — which spans over 90 years now — has provided us with in-depth insight into why our customers choose certain colors.”
He added: “Although personal preference certainly plays a role, practicality of upkeep as well resale value on some colors tend to be the decisive factors for our customers.”